Hassan's Departure: WWE's fault or The Media?

Blitzkrieg

I've been hearing that if WWE had never used the masked men or "terrorists" if you will, that none of this would have ever happend..

While that may be true, I can't help but blame the media for Hassan's departure and not the WWE writers.

Why is it ok for everyone else to show bombings, killings, rapes, etc.. and not WWE? Doesn't the "e" stand for entertainment?

The double standards of Viacom are completely rediculous..

I think the WWE writers handled Muhammad's character well from the beginning, and because of a couple humdred "fans" and I use the word fan loosely...the media picked up on this and over blew it like they do everything else..

The America media are the biggest fucking hypocrites I've ever seen..

Over 5 million people watch SD! and UPN only got a handful of complaints..

This is just lie after 9/11 the movie theatres took out "R" rated movies for like two weeks. Like that really made a difference.

I really can't blame WWE for this..they were just entertaining all of us real wrestling fans.

Crockerinho

Wrestling Moderator

Its a bit of both, WWE should have pulled the plugf on showing the angle after what happened in London knowing about the response it would get if it had happened a week earlier it would have hardly got a mention

Blitzkrieg

Yes..but I was reading an article that was on the main page of this site by a young man and he brought up a good point..

If UPN had never showed those warnings before the show the day of the London bombings, nobody would have even thought about linking the so called "terrorists" to what happend in London the same day..

Nobody would have thought twice about it..

This is mainly UPN's fault for showing that stupid ass warning, and then the national media for blowing this out of proportion like they do with everything..

The U.S. media is a joke.

AudioSavior

You are just begging for another steveo rant aren't you?

Blitzkrieg

No..most likely Steveo will just say something like he's gone and get over it, because he thought the angle with the masked men was tasteless..

This thread was sparked by Simon's new sig where he puts the blame on WWE writers..lol

Steveo

Here's my rant:

1.The Hassan character was touchy in the first place, but they did it well so that even though it may have offended some people it made sense and was good.

2. The Media in America like to blow things out of proportion, tha much is true. They like to focus on certain things and ignore other things, depending on what you watch. Things involving terrorists tend to get alot of attention.

3. Hassan was just fine until they ran the masked men attacking the Undertaker and holding Davari up as a martyr. This is where the angle and the character was killed. It was over the line, terrorism gets press and is a touchy subject. even though it was claimed they weren't Arab they were dressed like the guys in the hostage videos which conjures up those memories, what else do you think the general populace would think?

4. Wrestling in general gets bad press anyway, they are known for pushing the boundries of good taste. There was no way any good could have come of the masked men angle once people got a hold of it. WWE writers and bookers should have known better.

5.I feel bad for the guy who plays Hassan, I believe he will be back once they get to USA, but in wrestling when the writers screw up an angle it is the wrestler who takes the flak, not the writers. I personally think Vince should issue a public apology to smooth things over.

In closing. A young talented guy lost his job becuase the people that booked his angles are too out of touch with what actually offends people in the world today. It was not a handful, it was pretty decent amount or this would have never gotten to where it is. It obviously offended stockholders, and network executives, who are the wrong people to offend. It did offend some wrestling fans becuase it is a touchy subject. It also offended Arab Americans, becuase even though Hassan probably spoke some things they thought were true, how could one of them ever attend a wrestling event without feeling like they were enemy #1? I'm pretty sure I would have felt threatened.

Get yourself an old wrestling tape. Watch Flair in his prime, Terry Funk, The Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, The Andersons, Pat Patterson, The Briscoes, and I dare you,... I dare you to try to tell me that WWE is even a remotely good product. Wrestling happened before 1998 and just because you didn't see it does not mean it did not exist. Broaden your horizons people!!!

ICEMAN

Well put Steveo. I was going to post something very similar to this, but since you summed it up so well, there's no need to be repetitive.

Jackie Pies

I know tv guide had an article up on their webpage but I didn't look at it, but I go my (free) tvguide in the mail the other day and here's what I found:
Jeers: to the WWE for a tastelessly timed stunt. On the same day as the terrorist bombings in London, UPN's Smackdown aired a match in which one Arab grappler appeared to sacrifice himself, and anoter knelt and prayed. UPN ran a parenal advisory crawl, but it should've put the smackdown on the whole segment

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ahahah, tvguid is so clever (sarcasm). I guess tvguid doesn't realize that SD is taped Tuesdays, but they're blaming UPN as well, for not editing it out. They didn't even mention the masked men here, but they did imply that Daivari 'sacrificed himself' which I don't really understand why they word it in such a shitty way. of course I'm sure whoever wrote this jeer didn't even see the actual episode or the Hassan/Daivairi/Undertaker segment.

Slimdust

WWE shoul djust get rid of Smackdown! all together, get a new show, put it on mondays same time as Raw to compete. Thats what the wrestling word needs. If Tna gets big then they could move the new show back to thursday or something on a different program.

Dakstang

WC's Resident Redneck

I don't think very many WWE fans would like that because they can't watch both shows. I know I wouldn't like it but I could be wrong others may just love it.